Sharks are in a false position in the table, says Ulster hooker Rob Herring as he hopes to impress on his return to South Africa

Herring hasn’t played since the United Rugby Championship win at Leinster on New Year’s Day, but he has been named in Ulster’s touring party for the two games in South Africa and is hoping he can make an impact – especially in his native Cape Town.

“The injury is coming along nicely,” he said. “I got the go ahead from the surgeon a couple of weeks ago and I am just integrating into the squad now and trying to get the confidence back.

“It is one of those injuries that just takes a bit of time to get going. I am feeling reasonably good and I had a good session on Tuesday – it wasn’t full contact but it was lively.

“I think the more I train, the more confidence I get in it and at some stage of the tour I’ll be in full fighting force.

“It was just a really unlucky straight arm tackle. Reuben Crothers was carrying and he hit me on the place where the bicep attaches to the bone.

“It was just one of those – it wasn’t even full contact, just unlucky.

“Coming back from the World Cup it was all good while I was there, then I got a small calf strain, I got back from that then I got croc rolled in a tackle and had ligament damage to my ankle.

“Got back from that then popped my bicep in training. It has been fluke injuries- it is just one of those things that you have to deal with in rugby.

“It has been hard watching the boys. You want to be out there helping the team improve.

"I’m nearly back now and I’m looking forward to getting stuck back in.

“Cape Town is where I’m from and my family are all there, so to play for Ulster in front of my whole family is something that I cherish and hopefully I’ll be available for that game.

“Durban, I haven’t spent too much time there. It is a great place to go, the stadium is unbelievable and it is just one of those iconic stadiums that I love playing in.”

Ulster have a decent record in South Africa and are unbeaten in their last six games against opposition from the Rainbow Nation.

The Sharks, who Ulster face tomorrow (1pm kick-off) are bottom of the table, but have a host of their Springbok World Cup winners returning for the game.

Ulster then play Stormers on Saturday, March 30 and Herring has labelled both games as “big challenges”.

“We have been good...we are the first team to win both games over there and the last couple of years have been good, but we are coming up against a tough Sharks team and we still haven’t beat the Stormers over there,” he added. “Those are two big challenges for us and one we are really excited about.

“We are going there fully focused on us.

"The quality of their squad isn’t even close to representing where they are in the table.

“They have an incredible squad – Springboks all over the place and I’m hearing a lot of them are going to be back for this game.

"They will be desperate to get some more points.”